Top 5 Cars to Watch at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed

Every year, the Goodwood Festival of Speed draws crowds of people to the grounds of the Goodwood House, located in West Sussex, England. This annual hill climb and auction event features some of the most historic vehicles in motor racing, as well as some of the most modern and conceptual vehicles from manufacturers.

This year’s theme celebrates ‘Flat-Out and Fearless – Racing on the Edge,’ a theme that surely carries a lot of hype with it. Amongst some of the cars that will be inducing this hype, perhaps even most of the hype, is the Aston Martin Vulcan, the dream-child of Aston Martin’s racing division, an Aston that is too powerful to drive on the road and will cost the buyer an arm and leg to purchase.

The second car to keep an eye on is the Koenigsegg One:1. While the Koenigsegg Regera is promised to dominate all others and be the world’s first megacar, unfortunately for everyone the Regera will only be on static display. This means that we will not be able to hear what it sounds like or see it perform just yet and also disqualifies it from making this list, as it is not actually making the climb. However, the Koenigsegg One:1 will be taking on the famous Goodwood hillclimb and is guaranteed to put on quite the show as its 1,371 Nm of torque launches it around the track.

Coming in at third on the list is the Ferrari FXX K, essentially a track-focused LaFerrari on steroids with an amazing aero kit. Making its debut in Abu Dhabi at the Ferrari World Finals, Ferrari confirmed that the track-only FXX K had lapped the Fiorano track in just one minute and fourteen seconds, five seconds faster than the LaFerrari. Only 40 examples of the FXX K will be created and all 40 have already been sold out.

Sitting at fourth is the Zenvo ST1, a car that sadly had a tragic debut on BBC’s Top Gear where the test car caught fire during filming. Since then, the Danish car manufacturer has refined the car and has brought a revised variant to the Goodwood Festival. It will be interesting to see how this new ST1 performs with the new gearbox and whether or not it will meet Zenvo’s claim that the power distribution is almost non-interrupted, resulting in stronger acceleration.

Finishing off the list of 5 Cars to Watch at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed is the 2015 Porsche GT3 RS. Every year at the Festival of Speed, Porsche brings a plethora of cars from their model lineup to arouse the crowd’s interest. This year, the highlight from Porsche is the GT3 RS, which demonstrates Porsche’s commitment to technology transferred from the racetrack to the road. The GT3 RS will also be on static display as well as running the hillclimb.

Aston Martin Vulcan

Aston Martin has designed and produced some fantastic cars throughout history, however as of recent, Aston Martin has started to lose some of interest from customers, as the company has not done anything in recent history to generate excitement. The brand new Vulcan is a track-focused supercar with the McLaren P1 GTR and Ferrari FXX K in its headlights and it is not easing off of the gas. On the exterior, it is clear to see that this design is far from Aston’s norm, with curves, vents, and angles that will keep the Vulcan planted firmly to the tarmac.

Inside the cabin, nearly every surface is made out of carbon fiber, from the steering wheel to the racing sears, everything was hand crafted with racing in mind. The racing seats and racing steering wheel are wrapped in Alcantara for comfort. A unique orange stripe runs through the center of the cabin and is also present on the driver-side door panel.

At the hear of this beast sits a massive 7.0-liter V12, pumping out over 800 horsepower. With the Vulcan taking on the hillclimb, Aston Martin will likely give the public more information on performance stats, including an estimated top speed and zero to 60 time.

Koenigsegg One:1

With only seven examples built during 2014 and 2015, the Koenigsegg One:1 is one of the rarest and most exclusive cars on the planet, and it will be demonstrating what it is made of at this year’s Festival of Speed. The name One:1 comes from the horsepower-to-kilogram curb weight ratio of the car. This is known as the “dream” equation when designing a high-performance vehicle, especially one that is fully road-legal and usable.

Made entirely out of carbon fiber, including the wheels, weight saving is at an all time high, while power output is also at an all time high. Large air vents and an additional roof air scoop were needed to support the 1 Megawatt of power and 8,250 RPM rev limit. With all of this potential, Koenigsegg needed to make sure that the One:1 had tires that could handle anything. Custom-made Michelin Cup Tires were crafted for the One:1 and come directly from Koenigsegg.

With the One:1 breaking records left and right, including the 0-300-0 km/h world record, nobody knows what else this amazing car can do. It is expected that the One:1 will destroy the Goodwood hillclimb with its twin turbocharged aluminum 5.0-liter V8 and unbelievable handling.

Ferrari FXX K

First thing is first, this is the first ever Ferrari in history to produce more than 1,000 bhp. With that in mind, we also know that he FXX K features an impressive 540 kg of down force at 124 mph. This is 42 percent more than Ferrari’s previous FXX model, along with an aerodynamic efficiency increase of around 50 percent.

Now that we know this new FXX from Ferrari is bringing a buffet to the table, how will it stack up against its competitors in the hillclimb? This is exactly the reason why this car belongs on the list. We have seen what McLaren, Porsche and Ferrari have in terms of street-legal hybrid hypercars, now we want to see the track-only versions in action.

Weighing almost 90 kg less than the LaFerrari, the FXX K also adds more power to the equation. With the 6.3-liter V12’s output increased from 800 to 860 horsepower and the electric motors having been improved to 190 horsepower instead of 163, the FXX K total power output is higher than its main rival, the McLaren P1 GTR, which is rated at 986 horsepower. It will be very interesting to see how these cars stack up in terms of times for the hillclimb.

Zenvo ST1

Forgetting about everything that happened with the Zenvo on Top Gear, the ST1 is an absolutely stunning car to look at. Out of all five cars on this list, I believe this is the best looking car in my opinion. With that said, how will the Zenvo ST1 compare to its rivals at the festival?

According to Zenvo, the new refined ST1 features a new transmission, developed over a 12-month period with transmission manufacturer CIMA, the seven-speed gearbox still features a single-clutch design. Zenvo claims that even though it is still a single-clutch gearbox, changing gears will take as little as 35 milliseconds, making the transmission one of the fastest single-clutch transmissions on the market.

Under the hood, a turbocharged and supercharged 6.8-liter V8 provides the all the power to the rear wheels. With a whopping 1,104 horsepower and 1,430 Nm of torque, the ST1 seems like a viable competitor on paper. Zenvo will have to show the crowd what the ST1 is made of at this year’s festival.

Porsche GT3 RS

Yes, Porsche also brought the 918 Spyder to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, so why is that not on the list? Well, it is true that the 918 Spyder, in addition to being the fastest production car around the Nürburgring in Germany, the 918 Spyder was also the first car to round the Goodwood Hill in all-electric mode in 2014.

However, the GT3 RS has such an interesting and complicated story behind it, it is nice to finally see it hitting a track in front of the public’s eye. Just a few weeks ago, only a few blurry images appeared of the so-called GT3 RS, stirring up Porsche fans all over the world. Finally, all of the rumors can be put to rest about the sights and sounds of the new GT3 RS.

The real kicker to the GT3 RS is the 4.0-liter flat-six engine, cranking out 500 horsepower and 339 lb-ft of torque. Yes, this is definitely not the most powerful car on the list, however if you know Porsche you know that it is not only the amount of horsepower that achieves low times. Reaching 60 mph from a dead stop takes only 3.2 seconds with the PDK transmission.

The Car scene is so diverse
Where I come from, most enthusiasts recognize the amazing engineering (particularly the engines). The bulk of the ridicule originates from the manner in which many of the vehicles are modded/maintained. Thus, the jokes and or hate tends to be aimed more at the owner rather than the machine. All of which makes seeing properly sorted old Toyota's and Hondas at car meets, auto shows, and track days all the more refreshing.

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